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HON. JOHN L. TAYLOR, OF OHIO 



V 



ON 



THE ARMY BILL, THE VETO POWER, 



AND 



THE OUDINANCE OF 1787: 



DELIVERED 



IN THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES OP THE UNITED STATES, 



August 3, 1848 












WASHINGTON: 

J. AND G. S. GIDEON; PRINTERS. 

1848. 



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SPEECH 



In the House of Representatives of the United States. The House being in Committee of the 
"Whole on the state of the Union, and having under consideration a Bill making appropriations for thet 
support of the Army, for the year ending the thirtieth of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty* 
nine, 

Mr. TAYLOR, of Ohio, said- 
Mr. Chairinian : After sitting here a very attentive member of this body for 
nearly eight months, listening with great pleasure, and occasionally with some in- 
struction, to gentlemen on all sides of this House ; and, after being detained here 
now about nine hours since we met this morning, I feel too much exhausted to sub- 
mit the views I wish to present to this committee on some of the questions and sub- 
jects that now agitate the public mind, as I would like to do in the Congress of the 
United States. 

Nevertheless, I am determined, having now obtained the floor for the first time 
during this session, when I could discuss questions of a general nature and of public 
interest, to proceed with my remarks. And I shall do so with that freedom and 
boldness which becomes a Representative of a free and intelligent people, neither 
caring for the men who occupy, temporarily, the high places in the country, nor for 
any others who may follow in their train. I shall proceed to express the views I 
entertain upon these public questions as best I may, and as I deem it my duty to 
express them, in accordance with the well-settled opinions of the majority of those 
who sent me here. * 

I concur most heartily in many of the views of my distinguished friend, the hon- 
orable gentleman from the city of New York, (Mr. Tallmadge,) as to the vast waste- 
of time in this House, the irregularity of our proceedings, and the strong necessity 
of some reform in regard to the rules of proceeding in the House of Representa- 
tives, 'in order to prevent that disorder, that oppression, and that injury now inflicted 
upon a vast portion of the people of the country, and procure the more equal distri- 
bution of the thri^ of the House to the several Congressional districts of the United 
States. 

Of the two hundred and thirty members composing this House, only some forty 
or fifty are permitted to take part in its deliberations and discussions ; and those- 
of us, who are styled new members, are virtually excluded from all participation 
in the proceedings of this body by the oppressive rules of the House., It is 
disreputable to the Representatives of the people of the United States, that they 
cannot here forna a system of rules which will allow every gentleman 'to take part 
in the debates, and express freely the wishes and views of his constituents. If it 
be my lot to be sent back here, I wiU urge the necessity of such a revision of the 
rules, as shall restrain the men who obtrude themselves upon this House too frequently^ 
and which shall tend to equalize the time among the various Congressional districts 
of the people of the United States. Thus much I say, in order that my constituents 
may understand how it is, that I, in common with so many other members, so rare- 
ly have had an opportunity to express my views ; and that the country may know 
■why it is, that many of the intelligent members on all sides of the House, many of 
those on the opposite side of this Hall, as well as many of my political friends 
around me, are not heard during a long session of Congress. 
I now proceed. 

Mr, Chairman, we are now in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union 
upon the bill making appropriations for the support of the Army of the United States 



for the year ending the 30th June, 1849 ; a bill appropriating a vast amount of mo- 
ney, some ten or twelve millions of dollars, for the support of this branch of the 
public service alone. I am content to leave the framing of this bill, the appropria- 
tions therein proposed, the examination of the estimates upon which they are 
founded, and all its details, to the intelligent Committee of Ways and Means who 
~ have reported it ; for it is well known to this committee, that it is impossible for in- 
dividual members to investigate every item. I shall willingly vote for the whole 
amount asked for, as I have readily and cheerfully voted for all necessary supplies 
since I have had the honor of a seat in this House. And I here take occasion 'to 
say, that while some of our political opponents have taunted the Whig party as un- 
willing to vote supplies to carry on the General Government, some of the distin- 
guished and leading members on the opposite side of this House — amongst whom I 
might name the ex-chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, (Mr. McKay,) 
now a member of that committee, and after he had aided to mature the bdl for 
the support of the Navy of the United States — withheld their votes from that bill. 
Nay, sir, they voted against it. And thus this important arm of our national de- 
fence, that which guards the commerce of the country, that Navy which protects 
our extensive sea-board, and carries the flag of the Republic in honor around our 
coast and throughout the whole world, must rely for a majority vote in this House 
upon the Whig party ! Yes, sir ; the honorable member from North Carolina, and 
many gentlemen on that side of the Hall, after voting against the Naval Appropria- 
tion bill, stand up here, and with an impudence and effrontery as glaring as it is 
untrue, accuse the Whig party of withholding supplies for the army and navy, and 
for the support of the civil government of the United States. 

I listened with much pleasure to my honorable colleague, (Mr. Miller,) who has 
just taken his seat, and I was glad to see him have the opportunity of expressing, 
for the first time, his views upon some of the great questions of the day. But I 
think he was peculiarly unfortunate in makinahis first demonstration upon the so, 
called " Compromise bill," which was sent here the other day from the other 
branch of Congress, and which he commends to the favorable notice of the country, 
while he denounces us upon this side for promptly laying that bill upon the table. 

My colleague must have forgotten that, during the last session of the General 
Assembly of the State of Ohio, a resolution was passed by both branches, unani- 
mously, or nearly so, instructing our Senators, and requesting our Representatives, 
in Congress, to vote to incorporate the principles of the ordinance of 1787, into any 
law that might be passed to establish a territorial government for Oregon, or any 
territory we might acquire from Mexico by treat}'', or otherwise; and that, in the 
vote in this House, five only of the twenty-one Representatives from the State of 
Ohio, voted against laying that bill on the table. Then, sir, how is the sense of the 
State of Ohio declared here? A very large majority of her Representatives — all the 
Whig Representatives who did vote, and four of the nine Democratic members from 
the State of Ohio who gave a vote on that occasion — united to lay that miscalled 
"Compromise bill" on the table, and for the very best reasons, which, if my time 
does not prove too short, I propose to inquire into. 

But I will remark here — and the country should knoW — that while the Senate of 
the United States have spent nearly five months in discussing the great principles 
involved in this "Compromise bill," which they have just prepared and sent to us 
— after a discussion which has elicited the best talents of the land — in which gen- 
tlemen from the North and from the South, from the East and West, have vied 
with each other in the strongest and ablest arguments they could adduce — they have 
met together, and sent us a "Compromise bill," not sustained by a very large ma- 
jority of their own body, which they expected us to pass without discussion in a few 
days. Sir, we could not do it. It is well known, Mr. Chairman, that in the early 
part of this session a bill providing a territorial government for the Territory ot Ore- 
gon was reported by the honorable member from Indiana, (Mr. Caleb B. Smith,) 
who is chairman of the Committee on Territories, prepared by that committee; and 



I 



that at the very time the "Compromise bill" came to us from the Senate, our own 
bill relating to Oregon was under discussion, and was nearly matured; that the bill 
-which originated in this House for that purpose has been since passed by this body, 
and is now before the Senate for their concurrence. That bill passed this House by 
a vote of more than two to one; and a section excluding slavery from Oregon for- 
ever, was made a part of it. In this way we have shown to the country our desire 
to act promptly for the people of Oregon, and have demonstrated to the country 
that we laid that "Compromise bill" on the table, rot with a view to defeat the 
organization of the Territory of Oregon, but that the House of Representatives, at 
least, are willing to grant to that country what they desire, and ^Vhat has too long 
been denied to them. 

Yes, Mr. Chairman, a territorial government of the best kind has be^n given to 
to them by this House; such as was guarantied to all the northwestern territory, 
which has grown up under it so admirably, that the free institutions of the States 
which have been formed out of it, are the admiration of .all the world; and whose 
prosperity and growth in everything that renders man _ great, and prosperous, and 
happy, have been the miracle of the age in which we live. 

I intend before I get through to recur more particularh to this subject; that is, 
to the form of government which the Congress of the United States shall give to 
Oregon, and to the territories we have acquired from Mexico. 

I understand that the chairman of the Committee on Territories (Mr. Smith, of 
Indiana) announced to this House, that he was ready to present to our considera- 
-tion carefully prepared bills, for the newly acquired territories of California and 
New Mexico; and that he has not yet, under the rules of the House, been allowed 
to report them. There is ample time to pass those bills. I trust if they come be- 
fore us in the proper form that they will be passed. I am ready to give my vote 
for such bills at any time. 

I wish now to present some views, Mr. Chairman, upon a subject which is deeply 
agitating the public "mind, and which, it seems to me, has not been prrperly esti- 
mated in the discussions in this committee. I mean the great subject of the Veio 
Power, as conferred .by the Constitution of the United States upon the President, 
and the manner in which it has been exercised for the last fifteen or twenty years, 
by our Presidents — particularly by the present Chief Magistrate. , 

To examine the conduct of the men who are temporarily invested with power by 
the people, and to scrutinize their acts whilst they occupy the high places of the 
Republic, and thereby guard the public interest and the Constitution which we are 
sworn to support, is the great duty of a Representative of a free people; and this 
duty I shall endeavor faithfully to perform. 

I shall, in the first place, review as briefly as I can, some of the leading measures 
of the Federal Government, since Mr. James K. Polk, the present chief magistrate, 
came into otfice; and exhibit^ the country, th« enormous and alarming tendency 
of the party now in office, to concentrate the powers of this Government, in the hands 
of one man, thereby changing in practice the beautiful theory of our republican 
Government, to a tyrannical despotism. 

For this purpose let us look back for a moment to the 4th March, 1845. 

On that day, the President of the United States, was inaugurated, with all the 
forms and ceremonies usual on such occasions; and, in looking over his inaugural 
address, our attention is arrested by several important indications therein given, of 
the course of policy which he intended to pursue. 

With a predetermination to exercise all the extraordinary powers which he 
might desire to usurp during his administration,' in that inaugural address he fore- 
shadows his design to exercise frequently the Presidential veto, by ^^ substitytingthe 
mere discretion and caprice of the Executive,^^ for the will of the majority of the peo- 
ple, as expressed by their Representatives in Congress. I will ask the attention of 
this committee, and of the country, to these remarkable sentences in that first presi- 
-dential declaration of President Polk: 



" This most admirable system of well regulateJ self-government among men, ever devised by hu' 
man minds, has been tested by its successful operation for more than half a century; and if preserved 
from the usurpations of the Federal Government on the one hand, and the exercise by the States of powers 
not reserved to them on the other, will, I fervently hope and believe, endure for ages to come, and 
dispense the blessings of civil and religious liberty to distant generations. To effect objects so dear 
to every patriot, I shall devote myself with anxious solicitude. It will be my desire to guard against that 
most fruitful source of danger to the harmonious actions of our system, which consists in substituting the mere 
discretion and caprice of the Executive, or of majorities in the legislative department of the Government, for 
powers which have been withheld from the Federal Government by the Constitution. By the theory of our 
Government, majorities rulc.''^ * * " That the blessings of liberty which our Constitution secures, may 
be enjoyed alike by majorities and minorities, the Executive has been wisely invested with a qualified 
veto upon the acts of the legislature. It is a negative power, and is conservative in its character. It 
arrests for the time, hasty, inconsiderate, or unconstitutional legislation, and transfers questions at is- 
sue between the legislative and executive departments, to the tribunal of the people. Like all other 
powers, it is subject to be abused." 

Here, sir, we have an argument in favor of the veto power, even in the inaugural 
address of Mr. Polk. The first, sentence in this declaration is one of those truisms 
to which none of us object^ All are of opinion that our constitutional form of re- 
publican Government, is the wisest and best devised, ever formed by men ; and to 
preserve it from usurpations by the Chief Executive Magistrate of the Federal Go- 
vernment should be a primary object with every American patriot. Nor should the 
States of this Union exercise powers not reserved to them. 

But the promise at that time, made by the President of the United States, has 
Been grossly and frequently violated. The " discretion and caprice of the Executive,''^ 
to use his own words, have been frequently substituted for the constitutional duty 
to o'uard against federal usurpations; and the most salutary legislation has been 
thwarted, and rendered null and void, by the capricious and criminal interposition 
of the Executive veto. Who shall decide what powers are withheld from the legis- 
lative department of this Government, from Congress, by the Constitution of the 
United States? Did any man of sense, did any free American citizen, who can read the 
Constitution, and understand his rights and his dignity as an American citizen, ever 
grant for a moment, that any President — much less Mr. Janr es K. Polk — was to de- 
cide what powers the Constitution withheld from Congress.? Surely not ! Have we 
not a Supreme Court of the United States, whose duty it is to^ give a construction 
to your laws when necessary, and to decide upon their constitutional ity.? But it 
seems to me very manifest that when these sentences were uttered, Mr. Polk had a 
presentiment that his opinions Avere behind the age in which he lives; that they 
were at variance with the Constitution of his country; that a majority in Con- 
gress had long since condemned and repudiated them; and that it was necessary in 
advance to shadovr them forth, and to intimate to Congress that this kingly power, 
this monarchical feature in our Constitution, should be held up to them, to intimidate 
the Representatives of the people, and drive them into a craven submission to his 
will and power. 

I trust, Mr. Chairman, the day may never arrive, when any intelligent Represen- 
tative of the people, will be so recreant to his high and responsible trust, as to con- 
sult, in advance, the opinions and views of any President, as to what his rights 
are under the Constitution. But that he may study that great charter of our free- 
donj, and study the history of the men who formed it, and the circumstances under 
which they acted, and be guided rather by the glorious lights and intellects of the 
Revolution, than by any Will-of-the-Wisp Lanterns of Locofoco Democracy. 
Truly was it said, in that inaugural address, that "the most fruitful source of dan- 
ger to the harmonious action of our system consists in substituting the mere discre- 
tion and caprice of the Executive, for powers which have been withheld from the 
Federal Government by the Constitution." Yes, sir, not only a fruitful source of 
dano^er to the harmonious action of our republican system, but to the rights of the 
people, as they are guarantied by the Constitution of the United States. 

The legislative power of this country is vested in the Congress of the United 
States. Let us read from the Constitution itself, what is said on this subject. The- 
first section of the first article of that great charter of American freedom reads thus : 



^^ All legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in a Congress of the United 
States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.''^ 

And this is the whole power. And though the laws passed by Congress are, by 
the Constitution, to be submitted to the President for his approval, yet it never 
was contemplated by the framers of it, that the mere '^'discretion and caprice of 
the Executive^^ should be substituted for the will of a majority of the Congress of 
the United States. 

That inaugural address further declared, " that by the theory of our Government 
majorities rule;" as if to indicate to us, in advance, that no matter how important 
the legislation of Congress, no matter how wise, how necessary, how indispensable 
to the general welfare, or how imlperiously demanded by the calls of the people, or 
the demands of justice, yet it is only by the theory of our Government that a ma- 
jority can enact laws to m.eet the pressing exigency of the times, and that a Presi- 
dential co-operation is absolutely indispensable in all cases. That a majority of 
Congress, no matter how large and decided, should not control, under any circum- 
stances, but that the Presidential prerogative must be conciliated and consulted; and 
that no act of legislation should pass except by the odious two-thirds rule, iftiless it 
be the will and pleasure of one man — the federal Chief Magistrate. 

How odious is this unfounded and unconstitutional pretension to the great body 
of the people ! How utterly at variance with the practice of the Government under 
the early Presidents ! And how arbitrary and anti- democratic in practice ! How to- 
tally at war with the administration of Thomas Jefferson, whose name is con- 
stantly on the lips of demagogues, as their exemplar, but whose real example is 
rarely, if ever, followed by any of the modern progressive Democracy. Sir, 
President Jefferson, during the eight years of his administration, never exercised this 
odious veto power. And in the very commencement of the Government, General • 
Washington, during the eight years of his administration, never exercised it but 
in two instances. Neither Presidenis John Adams, John Quincy Adams, nor Mar- 
tini Van Bure7i, during the twelve years of their administrations, ever exercised this 
odious powe'r. It is anti-republican ; and when used upon mere questions of expe- 
diency, as in the case of the French Spoliation bill, or upon the mere discretion and 
caprice of the Executive, tends rapidly and inevitably to enlarge Executive power 
, and authority, to restrain the free action of the Representatives of the people, and 
to destroy the great objects of legislation. Sir, for what do we assemble here ? Is it 
as the mere agents of the Executive authority — to raise money, to pass appropriation 
biUs to carry on the civil departments, to pay your army and navy ? Is it to catch, 
bv such VETO messages as President Polk sends here, the opinions, and to do. the 
biddings, of a tyrannical President ? No, sir ; no. 

The people have elected us as their Representatives, who know their wants, to 
present their opinions upon public questions, to redress their grievances, to protect 
their just rights, to guard the public interests, to legislate for their best interests, 
public and private, as we deem best, and as the true interests of the country de- 
mand. We do not sit here to inquire and act as the President may dictate. But 
receiving from him the usual information as to the state of the Union, which he is 
required by the Constitution to communicate, we are thereupon required, by the 
oaths we have taken to support the Constitution, to act upon our own judgments and 
knowledge of the wajits of the people of the country, without reference to the Pres- 
ident's opinions. Now, sir, what do we hear in this HoXise, almost daily, in 
debate ? Why, sir, inquiries the most offensive to an independent Representative 
of a free people. 

We are told by our opponents on the other side of this Hall that General Cass 
wiU veto the Wilmot proviso, if the Representatives of the people should hereafter 
enact it, during his term of service, if he be elected, (which God forbid !) And we 
are pressed with the inquir}- — " What will General Taylor do in the event of his 
election to the Presidency ?" " If he be elected President, would he vetb any 
act that might be passed by Congress extending the principles of the ordinance of 



8 

1787 over the Territories of the United States recently acquired from Mexico ?'" 
Now, sir, I do not want the pledges of Lewis Cass, or Zachary Taylor, on this sub- 
ject in advance, as to what either will do if he be elected President of the United 
States. Especially, sir, I do not wish a Presidential candidate, no matter what are 
his opinions on this or any other subject, to pledge himself in advance as to the 
course he would pursue, when a bill, passed by both Houses of Congress, may be 
presented to him for his approval. A patriot and a statesman, who has the good of 
his country at heart, and is determined to endeavor to discharge his duty faithfully 
and honestly, under the Constitution, ought not to pledge himself, in advance of his 
election, that he would or would not, as President, veto any particular measure that 
Cono-ress might adopt. It is against the free and untrammelled action and rights 
of American'c.itizens that any pledges of this kind should be brought to bear in our 
popular elections, by any party, or candidate of a party. 

And hence the wide and striking difference in the position of the two candidates 
now before us for the Presidency. How is this ? We find that General Cass has^ 
accordino- to the assertions of his political friends here, avowed his opposition to a 
particiila^ measure so broadly, that, if elected President, he would not approve a 
law excluding slavery from the newly acquired Territories. Nay, sir, they assert 
on this floor that he is pledged to veto any such law if passed by Congress ; that 
their candidate for the Presidency would veto a law estabhshing the Wilmot proviso, 
no matter how large the majority by which it might -be passed. So that nothing 
less than two-thirds of this House could enact such a law. And they triumphantly 
ask us— "What will Zachary Taylor do, if he be elected ?" "Has he given any 
pledges to the American people that he will veto such a law ?" No, sir, he has 
"^iven no pledges to check or thwart the will of the people ; and it is in conformity 
with the honest character of the man, to act with the delicacy and propriety becom- 
in<? his position, to refrain from giving pledges in advance, what he will, and what, 
he'' will-not veto. But he contents himself by giving his opinion of the veto power^ 
as he understands it, under the Constitution. In what a glorious attitude does this 
place the candidate of the Whig party ? And how favorably does his position con- 
trast witli that of the candidate of the Locofoco party upon this important subject ? 

Our opponents may find ample cause of complaint on the part of the Whigs of the 
Union, when they reflect upon the wonderful strides this enormous power has made, 
since the inauguration of Andrew Jackson as President of the United States. 

During the first twenty years after the adoption of the Constitution of the United 
States, that is, during the eight years of General Washington's administration, the 
four years of President John Jldums's administration, and the eight years of Presi- 
dent Jeferso7i''s administration, there were only two occasions upon which the Ex- 
ecutive veto was interposed. General Washington, during the eight years he was 
President, only exercised the veto power twice : and, Mr. Chairman, this was in 
the infancy of the Government, when the principles of the Constitution had not been 
studied by the great body of the people and their Representatives, as they have 
been since. It"i,s true, that some of those who framed the Constitution were still 
in the public service, as members of Congress; but there were many new members, , 
who might, with the best motives, have acted hastily and unadvisedly. 

Presuknt John Adams, who administered the Government for four years, never 
exercised the veto power. 

President Jefferson did not exercise it at all during his service of eight 3^ears. 
President Jolyi Quincy Adams, during his term of four years, never exercised this 
extraordinary power. Nor did President Van Buren exercise it during his term of 
four years. 

And yet President Tyler, in the short term qf four years, exercised this great 
power on seven important occasions, and until his administration became perfectly 
odious to the whole country. 

President Polk, during his brief occupancy of the White House, has exercised 
this power of the veto on three most important occasions; defeating, by his single 



9 

opinion, the wishes of large majorities in Congress, in favor of two River and Harbor 
bills and the French Spoliation bill: the last purely upon the ground of expediency. 
The River and Harbor bills, vetoed by Mr. Polk, were bills of the utmost importance 
to the commerce of our geat Western lakes and our Western rivers; particularly 
the bill passed at the last session of Congress, entitled ''An act to provide for con- 
tinuing a certain public work in the Territory of W isconsin, and for other purposes." 
That bill was retained by the President, and died " a natural death," not havino- 
been approved or signed during the Congress in which it originated. But havino- 
revised all the old and fallacious arguments against internal improvements by the 
General Government, which were put forth by himself and others twenty years 
ago, when they were members of this House, the President of the United States, 
on the 13th day of March last, sent to this House, without any call from us, and 
without solicitation — nay, sir, I might say with an impudence and effrontery unpre- 
cedented, this River and Harbor bill, passed by another Congress, and with which 
we had nothing to do, with a most elaborate veto message accompanying it. Now, 
sir, why was this done? Manifestly with the view of advising us of his old opin- 
ions on this subject, and which he might have thought necessary, as the gr^at ma- 
jority of this Congress is comprised of new members, whose opinions of the powers 
of the General Government upon this highly interesting subject w'ere at variance 
with his own. By looking at this gratuitous veto message and argument of the 
President, it may be seen that he refers with an air of triumph to that capricious and 
tyrannical act of Andrew Jackson, in vetoing w'hat is usually called the Mays- 
ville Road bill. Many gentlemen here Avill recollect the circumstances under which 
that bill was destroyed by the odious veto. If I recollect the history of that meas- 
ure, it passed both Houses of Congress by the votes of leading and distinguished 
members of both the great parties in the country. Amongst those who voted for 
that bill I find the names of Messrs. Benton., Webster, Buchanan, Doddridge, Bur- 
nett, Rowan, Richard AL Johnson, and others equally distinguished. It proposed to 
authorize a subscription of about $1.50,000 to the stock of the macadamized turn- 
pike road, leading from Maysville to Lexington, in Kentucky; and this stock, was to 
be paid and held by the United States, on the same terms as the stock of others, 
the stockholders, in that turnpike road, was paid and held. The road in question, 
was a link in the great daily southwestern post or mail route, branching from the 
National road at Zanesville,.and passing through Lancaster, Chinicothe,"and West 
Union, in Ohio, to Maysville and Lexington, in Kentucky, and through Nashville, 
in Tennessee, to Florence, in Alabama, and was the great post road over which the 
daily mail was conveyed to a large portion of the people in the West and South- 
west. But this appropriation, made in aid of a work at that time deemed national 
in its character, was vetoed by Andrew Jackson; ajid the cunning hand and counsel 
of his prime minister, is visible in every line of that celebrated veto. The spleen of 
President Jackson towards his great rival in the popular esteem, Henry Clay, by 
whose door this road passed, and whose State of Kentucky would have been essen- 
tially benefitted by it, and the indulgence of that dictatorial and tyrannical temper 
for which he was noted, induced that veto, which Mr. Polk refers to in justification 
of his own message of March last. He says that Jackson's veto put a check upon 
the policy of internal improvements. When all of us now Icnow that more money 
was appropriated for internal improvements, during the eight j^ears of Gen. Jack- 
son's administration, than was appropriated under any other administration in the 
same time. Here is ^ list of appropriations during .-several of the Presidential terms 
for purposes of internal improvements by the General Government: 

Under Mr. Jefferson $48,400 .Under Gen. Jackson $10,562 882 

" Mr. Madison 250,800 ". Mr. Van Buren 2 222 544 

" Mr. Monroe 707,G21 " Mr. Tyler LOTG^SOO 

" Mr. J. a. Adams 2,310,475 

Let me now, Mr. Chairman, ask the attention of this committee, to some (tf the 
items of the River and Harbor bill, as it is generally called, which Mr. Mk refused 
to approve, and which he sent to us voluntarily in March last, as I before stated. I 



10 

iiave his veto message and the copy of that bill before me. And I find, among other 
appropriations, the following: 

" For the harbors at Milwaukie, $6,000. 

" For the continuation of the breakwater structure at Burlington, on Lake Champlain, $6,000. 
" For the continuation of the breakwater structure at Plattsburg, on Lake Champlain, |6,000. 
" For repairing the harbor at Buffiilo, on Lake Erie, and the continuation of the sea wall for the 
"protection of the same, $25,000. 

" For improving the harbor at Dunkirk, on Lake Erie, $5,000. 

" For improving the harbor at Erie, on Lake Erie, $12,000. 

<' For improving Grand River harbor, on Lake Erie, $3,000. 

<* F\)r improving the harbor at Cleveland, on Lake '- rie, $10,000. 

" For improving the harbor at Sandusky city, on Lake Erie, $6,000. 

*' For improving the River Raisin liarbor, on Lake Erie, $5,000. 

*' For constructing a dredge-boat, to be used on Lake Erie, $12,000. 

" For improving the harbor at St. Joseph, on Lake Michigan, $6,000. 

*' For improving the harbor at Michigan city, on Lake Michigan, $12,000. 

" For improving the harbor on Chicago, at Lake Michigan, $8,000. 

" For constructing a dj-edge boat to be used on Lake Michigan, $12,000." 

Now, sir, these a^^proT^riations were made by Congress, after mature consideration, 
^nd with full knowledge of their importance to the great commercial interests of the 
country. Many of them were made with particular reference to that vast domestic 
commerce that has grown* up on our northern lakes, and in the security and protec- 
tion of which the whole western country is directly interested. Who, on this floor, 
has not been fully advised of the immense amount of losses, of life and property, on 
the great lakes, whose harbors these appropriations were intended to improve. !* All 
are well advised of the absolute necessity of these appropriations; and that these 
sreat harbors have been somewhat improved by repeated appropriations by Con- 
xj-ress, which have been heretofore approved by the Executive, But it is equally 
well known that continued appropriations are necessary for many of those objects, 
and that they are of a general nature, in which the whole country is interested, and 
not the inhabitants of one State alone. That to regulate and facilitate this great 
commerce ^^among ihe States,^'' is within the constitutional power of Congress, and 
that it has often been exercised. But it must now be suddenly arrested by the cap- 
rice of one man, by the arbitrary discretion of Mr. James K. Polk, who temporarily 
fills the chair at the White House! Away with such absurd, such ill-timed, such 
■erroneous exercise of Executive power! 

Look at the small sum appropriated for the lake harbors in the State of Ohio. 
Only $19,000 to improve three of her principal harbors on the shore of Lake Erie; 
■und'even this small sum is insultingly denied her. Look at the appropriation of 
$25,000 for repairing the harbor at Buffalo, bordering on a great and growing and 
beautiful city, that commands an, immense amount of the business of the lakes, and 
which it is of the utmost importance to the western country should be kept in'good 
repair; and even that small appropriation to one of the great commercial points in 
.New York is withheld by the odious veto of President Polk. 

iet us iook at this bill a little further. I find, amongst other items, 



For the improvement ot the Uhio river above the tails at Liouisville, $4U,UUU. 
" For the improvement of the Ohio river below the falls at Louisville, and of the Mississippi, Mis- 
souri and Arkansas rivers, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars : Provided, That of this sum, not 
to exceed $25,000, may be applied to the improvement of the Mississippi river at St. Louis, in the 
■discretion of the Secretary of War." 

Here, then, W'e find an appropriation by Congress of $40,000 to improve the 
Ohio river above the falls, withheld by Mr. Polk, to the very great injury of all the 
States bordering on that river. This, sir, was an appropriation in W'hich the State 
of Ohio was. deeply interested; and particularly the district I represent, as it is 
bounded oi^the south by that river, and a very valuable commerce is carried on by 
steam and other navigation by the people of that part of the State. But Ohio has 



/ 



11 

been neglected; her commercial interests wholly neglected, by the present Federal 
Administration. And why should this be so? Are the 2,000,000 of inhabitants 
within her borders always to be neglected by the General Government? Are the 
people of that State, now" amounting to one-tenth of the whole population of the 
United States, contributing their full share of the revenues of the country, and bear- 
ing their proportion of all the public burthens, to be totally deprived of all the ben- 
efits intended by the Federal Union? Sir, I warn gentlemen, who uphold this mis- 
erable, narrow, and contracted policy — if not palpable usurpation of power by the 
President — that whilst we cheerfully vote all needful supplies for the Government — 
all that is needed to protect the eastern and southern seaboard, and to guard the for- 
eign commerce of the country — that we will not longer stand by as indiiferent spec- 
tators of this odious and hostile action of the Executive. The whole West will, ere 
long, rise up here as a giant, and drive into utter oblivion and obscurity, those who 
so culpably neglect her interests, and daringly withhold her just rights. In the 
name of the great State I have the honor in part to represent, I demand of the 
General Government an equal participation in the appropriations to imp'rove our 
great rivers and harbors; and whilst I have a seat in this Hall, I will never cease 
to demand it, and to denounce and rebuke those who withhold it. 

The important appropriation for the improvement of the rivers Mississippi, Mis- 
souri, and Arkansas, and particularly that of the river at St. Louis, w^ere most inju- 
riously withheld by the President; and such a course ought to meet the decisive 
condemnation of every man interested in the vast commerce of the Mississippi val- 
ley. 

I have thus, Mr. Chairman, noticed a few of the appropriations intended to be 
made by Congress in this important bill. It comprised thirty-nine distinct objects 
of internal improvement, for which appropriations were made. It proposed no ap- 
propriation for a road or canal, but was intended for the improvement of our great 
Western rivers and harbors, and other works commenced already, in many in- 
stances, and all of them intimately connected with that great domestic commerce 
which ought to receive a due share of our attention, but which is utterly neglected 
by the President of the United States. 

Then, Mr. Chairman, I deem it my duty here, now, in my place in the House of 
Representatives of the United States, to protest, in the strongest manner, in the 
name and for the people I have the honor to represent, against the tyrannical use of 
the veto power, and to express their decided opposition, their fixed and determined 
hostility, to the frequent, capricious, and arbitrary exercise of this high federal, 
this tyrannical power. They believe as I do, that since General Jackson came into 
office, this veto power of the President has been hastily, capriciously, unconstitu- 
tionally, and tyrannically exercised. And that the best interests of the people have 
been overlooked and contemned by the too frequent and improper exercise of this 
great power; that their representatives have been checked and controlled by the 
arbitrary will and temper of one man, in violation of the Constitution and against 
a vast deal of useful legislation. They look upon it as one of the important political 
questions now at issue between the two great parties — if not the greatest and 
most important. And they are determined, in this great struggle for Executive usur- 
pation and prerogative, which threatens to absorb all the Legislative power, to con- 
centrate it in the hands of the President, and to sink the Representatives of the peo- 
ple into utter insignificance — to battle against Executive usurpation while they live, 
'and with all the means they can lawfully exercise. 

I speak here not only for my immediate constituents and for myself, but I reiter- 
ate the opinions of a large majority, as I believe, of the people of Ohio, who, at a 
State Convention, held at "their State capital, iij^the month of January last, adopted 
•Unanimously the following resolution, and others of a similar character : 

Resolved, That we have abiding faith in, and will continue to support with undiminished zeal, the 
great principles of the Whig party, avowed in former contests — Protection to American Industry — a 
Sound Uniform Currency-^Internal Improvements — Opposition to the Sub-Treasury scheme — and 
tmrelenting resistance to Executive usurpations. 



12 

Yes, sir, the people of Ohio will resist unrelerdinghj all ^^ Executive usurpation.'^ ^ 
And whilst I have the honor of a seat here, as one of their Representatives, I will 
continue to rebuke and denounce it in every mode in which, in my official and pub- 
lic character, I can rebuke and denounce it. 

The proposition of my distinguished and honorable colleague, (Mr. Vinton,) 
made in the early part of the session, to establish a '■'•Home Department^'''' met with 
my hearty apj)robation. I hope the time will soon come, when a Home Department^ 
such as exists in many foreign States, will be established for the collection and dis- 
semination of statistical and other valuable information, in relation to domestic 
commerce, internal improvements, agriculture, the mechanic arts, improvements 
in science and machinery, and other matters intimately connected and identified 
with the best interests of the people. 

Foreign commerce is regulated and guarded by abundant legislation, but domestic 
and internal commerce has not received the attention it so imperiousl}^ demands; 
in fact, it is almost totally neglected; and, I ask, for what can we make appropria- 
tions more beneficial to all parts of the. Union, particularly to the great western 
country ? 

However, let the blame rest where it belongs. Congress, during the two last ses- 
sions, passed bills making appropriations to remove obstructions to our internal 
comrnerce, but they met with the vetoes of President Polk, because, forsooth, he has 
some conscientious scruples about a power Avhich has been pronounced a constitu- 
tional power by many of our ablest and wisest statesmen, and has been actually ex- 
ercised for more than a quarter of a century. One ground of objection urged by the 
President in his veto messages, to these appropriations for internal improvements, 
is, that the bill of last session appropriated about half a million of dollars to thirty- 
nine objects of internal improvement, lying in "several States of this Union." But 
I find, upon examination, that these thirty-nine appropriations were of immediate 
interest to about 22 States, in which they were to be expended, and of national im- 
portance to the whole United States. And thus the President of the United States 
objects to aiding the commerce and navigation of the country, by approving an ap- 
propriation of half a million of dollars made by Congress for that purpose, when he 
is willing to approve any amount of appropriation bills to cover the expenses of the 
Mexican war, even if they amount to $100,000,000 — a war which this House has 
solemnly resolved was "unnecessarily and unconstitutionally commenced by him." 

I intend, Mr. Chairman, to make some remarks upon the subject of slavery — a 
subject which has been introduced and fully discussed here. It is a subject of the 
deepest interest to the South and to the North; but is it not also a question of equal 
importance, whether the President of the United States shall usurp all the legislative 
power of the country ? • 

Mr. Meade, of Virginia, here inquired if the gentleman from Ohio would permit 
him to ask a question ? 

Mr. Taylor. Certainly. 

Mr. Meade. Will the gentleman from Ohio inform this committee if he Relieves 
the President should sign a bill containing provisions which he thinks unconstitu- 
tional ? 

Mr. Taylor. I care not what the President thinks is constitutional or unconsti- 
tutional. I never inquire as to his opinions in advance of my action in this House. 
And I do not stand here to answer questions, relevant or irrelevant, which o-entle- 
men of the opposite side — friends of the President — may ask, as to what the Presi- 
dent will do. But I stand here as the Representative of a free and enlio-hteued con- 
stituenc}^, who think and speak for themselves, without reference to what the Presi- 
dent may think, or what he may threaten to do. 

Now, sir, so far as our experienc^shows, the true interest and good of the coun- 
try is best promoted by leaving all domestic questions to the legislatures of the coun- 
try. . 

A few days ago, when th6 bill for establishing the territorial government of Ore- 



13 

gon Avas under consideration, I presented my views briefly, against clothing the 
Governor of that Territory with the veto power in any case whatever. I referred tO' 
the practical abuses which might grow up under this odious power, when the parti- 
san feelings and violent passions of a governor holding his office for four years by 
appointment from the President, might be exerted against the will of the people, as 
expressed by their representatives. And I alluded, in vindication of m}"^ opinions 
upon this subject, to the fact, that in many of the States, where the power of the 
veto was withheld from the governors, that their legislatures acted quite as judiciously,, 
and as much for the true interests of the people, as when this extraordinary power 
was vested in the Governor. Look at the States of -Delaware, Mar^'Iand, and Vir- 
ginia, and to the State of Ohio, whose constitutions did not clothe their governors 
with the veto power. In Ohio, sir, the General Assembly of the State, consisting 
of 108 members — 72 in the House, chosen annually, and 36 in the Senate, chosen 
biennially — were supposed by the framers of our State constitution, to be the safest 
depositories of the legislative power. And they did not even require the goverpor 
to sign a bill passed by a majority of both branches of the General Assembly. And 
the reasons are numerous and obvious. ^\Tiy, sir, who is a governor or President ? 
A mere man — imperfect and liable to all the passions and prejudices of any other 
man, in private or public life. And, as "in the multitude of counsellors there is 
safety," surely the majority of both branches of any well organized legislature, who- 
are fresh from the people, and directly responsible to them, is much more likely to 
judge best of what is most conducive to the public good, and what is best and safest 
in all emergencies. All are sworn to support the Constitutions, and all are respon- 
sible to the great source of all political power — the people. 

And, sir, Ohio may well compare with any of her sister States, where the veto 
power is lodged by their constitutions with their governors. I will not particularize, 
but merely allude in general terms to the fact, and point with pride and pleasure to 
her rapid advances in population and wealth, and to the progress of improvements in 
all the departments of human skill, industry, and labor in that State, to verify what 
I say: The population of the State of Ohio, in 1800, was 45,365; in 1810, 230,760; 
in 1820, 581,434; in 1830, 937,679; in 1840, 1,519,467; and now, in 1848, as we 
believe, the State contains about 2,000,000 of inhabitants, who enjoy as much 
abundance, comfort, and happiness, as can be found in the same number in any part 
of the world. 

Mr. Chairman, in the debate, a day or two siiice, on this subject, a gentleman 
from Missouri (Mr. Green) inquired, somewhat tauntingly, of one of my colleagues,. 
(Mr. ScHEKCK,) "What was the amount of the public debt of Ohio?" And the an- 
swers are before the country. . I cordially concur in all that was then said by my 
colleague; and will now add, that the public debt of Ohio is between 19 and 20 
millions of dollars, and that the interest thereon is regularly paid. That interest 
will always be paid, and, in due time, the principal will be paid also. Let me say, 
to satisfy those who are concerned in knowing, that, besides our splendid works of 
internal improvement, connecting the lakes with the Ohio river by two navigable 
canals, with various branches, that a railroad connects the beautiful city of Cincin- 
nati with Lake Erie; and that the public works now pay about half the interest on 
her public debt, and will soon pay all the interest. Besides, her 2,000,000 of in- 
habitants are industrious, enterprising, and inteUigent — it being the first duty of 
every citizen to engage in some useful labor. I may add, that the list of taxable 
property on her tax duplicates largely exceeds $400,000,000 in value; so that her 
public debt is comparatively small. 

Here then, sir, with one-tenth of the population of the United States, with twenty- 
one members on this floor, and paying one-tenth at least of the revenues of the 
country, what aid does Ohio get from the Federal Government? Nothing, sir, com- 
paratively nothing, under any administration. Since the days of Andrew Jackson 
tmtil now, what has Ohio obtained? When Congress proposes to improve the navi- 
gation of the Ohio river by an appropriation of $40,000 for that purpose, or by ap-- 



14 

propriating $20,000 to improve the harbors on Lake Erie, Mr. Polk says — ''No, / 
forbid.'^'' We get nothing, sir, save the empty honor of having one of the host of our 
defeated Locofoco candidates sent to South America as Minister, to brave the cli- 
.mate and mosquitoes, and to dance with a BraziUan Queen. 

But, Mr. Chairman, the time is coming, and that rapidly, when Ohio will be 
heard, not only in her popular elections, but in the Sidministration of the General 
Government. W^ vote freely all the necessary supplies for your army and navy, 
for your fortifications, and your civil list, and we demand, in the name of the people 
we represent, an equal share in the benefits of the General Government. 

The State of Ohio gave her vote, in 1844, for Henry Cla.t for President, as she 
had given a Whig vote in 1836 and in 1840. And by her vote in 1844 she dis- 
claimed the opinions of Mr. Polk, and the party that sustained him. She then pro- 
nounced against the annexation of Texas. But when Mr. Polk came into office, 
and involved us in a war with Mexico, after the annexation, "unnecessaril}" and 
unconstitutionally," as we have voted in this House, Ohio did not fail in her duty 
to the country. She promptly obeyed the calls upon her patriotism, and furnished 
all the men that the Administration asked her to furnish. It has been variously es- 
timated that, with the five volunteer regiments, and the men recruited by officers of 
the regular army, at the numerous recruiting stations in that State, that Ohio has 
furnished from 6,000 to 8,000 men for the Mexican war. This large number com- 
prised men of both parties, Whigs and Democrats. And notwithstanding the base 
-and unfounded insinuation of the President of the United States, in his message of 
December, 1846, that those who opposed his policy in the beginning of that war 
were giving "aid and comfort to the enemy," I affirm boldly, that, of the Ohio 
volunteers, quite an equal moiety were Whigs, in principle and in action, who freely 
volunteered, and served with honor and credit, in the Mexican war. There were 
men of my own district, belonging to the 1st regiment of Ohio volunteers, who served 
with distinguished gallantry and efficiency at the storming of Monterey. I might 
refer to one of the captains in that dreadful conflict, who was found cool and col- 
lected, in the thickest of the fight, leading his men to duty and to victory, and who, 
like Mitchell and Hamer, (the lamented, and generous, and patriotic Hamer, 
whom I well knew,) on that memorable occasion, aided, under the direction of 
Zachary Taylor, to carry the strongly fortified city of Monterey, and "shrunk 
.from no responsibility." This captain, when the call was made upon Ohio, was a. 
Whig editor in my own district, a highly respectable lawyer, and who held the office 
of major general of Ohio militia; and yet he, prompted by the noblest impulses of 
patriotism, enlisted as a private, was elected a captain, and served, with the truest 
fidelity and honor, in the Mexican war. I might cite numerous instances to show how 
utterly unfounded was such an insinuation, and how unworthy the high station of a 
President of the United States. But I forbear. 

I will now proceed, Mr. Chairman, to another subject — one which, at this time, is 
exciting much interest and attention in the country. Now we are at peace with 
Mexico, and have, by the treaty with that Republic, acquired New Mexico and Cal- 
ifornia, thereby adding a large extent of territory to our former possessions. We 
have passed a bill in this House to establish a territorial government in Oregon; and 
■it is deemed necessary by many that we should at once extend our laws over Cali- 
fornia and New Mexico. And the plan for the government of these Territories has 
Jjeen the subject of much discussion and careful examination by Congress. It is 
w^ell known that a decisive majority in this House is in favor of inserting in any 
iaw for the government of these Territories that may be passed by Congress, a pro- 
vision for the perpetual exclusion of slavery therefrom, in the same manner, that, by 
the Ordinance of 1787, it was prohibited forever in the territory northwest of the Ohio 
rivef. In a matter of so much interest as that, I have endeavored to obtain the most 
correct information; and I have taken extraordinary pains to ascertain the true his- 
tory of this Ordinance. I examined all the journals of Congress under the Confed- 
.eration, and found they contained very meagre reports of its origin. I searched the 



15 

libraries of Congress, and found that the journals of Congress, under the Confedera- 
tion, and in the early history of the Government under the Constitution, contaijied 
nothing satisfactory as to the origin of the first plan for governing the western coun- 
try. By the kindness of the Secretary of State, I have been permitted to examine 
the manuscripts upon the files of the State Department, and I find the valuable ar- 
chives in that Department, as connected with the early history of the country, show 
some most interesting facts in relation to the Ordinance of 1787; and I note, that,^ 
while 1.he/ore'?'g-/2. correspondence of the Government, during the Revolutionary war,, 
and subsequently, has in part been printed, yet the dornestic correspondence, in 
some respects the most interesting, has never been pubHshed. I hope the time 
may soon come, when Congress will cause many of those old manuscripts, and por- 
tions of that domestic correspondence, to be published, for they would add valuable 
volumes of information, to which the public has not now convenient access, to the 
public libraries of the country. 

The result of my search at the State Department was this: I found that the origi- 
nal report for the government of the Western territory was made on the first day of 
March, 1784, by a committee, consisting of Mr. Jefferson, of Virginia, Mr. Chase, 
of Maryland, and Mr. Howell, of Rhode Island; that this report is in the handwrit- 
ing of Mr. Jefferson, and contains, amongst other tilings, a section prohibiting 
slavery in the Western territory after the year 1800. 

I applied to the Secretary of State for a copy of that original report, and the pro- 
ceedings thereupon, so far as those unpublished manuscripts show them; but it be- 
ing, as he stated, contrary to the rules of the Department, to give copies of those pa- 
pers except upon a call officially made, and not having time to obtain a copy thereof 
by the usual mode of a resolution calling for the same by this House, I am compelled 
to refer to the "jVo/m of the ordinance of 1787," compiled from the same manuscripts, 
and the journals of Congress, and communicated to the National Intelligencer, dated 
^'Washington, August 'iOth, 1847," by Peter Force, esq., a highly intelligent 
gentleman of this city. These notes I have carefully compared with the originals, 
and believe them entirely correct. — See Appendix. 

It may be seen by these manuscripts and jjfoceedings that the original section, 
prohibiting slavery in the Western territory after the year 1800, was stricken out 
on the 19th day of April, 1784, on the motion of Mr. Spaight, of North Carolina. 
This 7j/a?2. was thereupon ado])ted, on the 23d April, 1784; and was the law of the 
land, until repealed by the Ordinance of 1787; that is, for about three years. On 
the 16th March, 1785, a motion was made by Mr. King, seconded by Mr. Elleryy 
that the following proposition be committed: 

"That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the States described in the 
resolve of Congress of the 23d of April, 1784, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, v^rhereof the 
party shall have been personally guilty; and that this regulation shall be an article of compact, and re- 
main a fundamental principle of the constitutions between the thirteen original States, and each of the 
States described in the said resolve of the i23d of April, 1784." 

This proposition was committed, but was not adopted as a part of the resolve of 
Congress of the 23d April, 1784. 

Several committees were afterwards appointed to prepare a plan for the tempora- 
ry government of the Western territory, and a report was made, but no final action 
was had, until the 13th day of July, 1787, when ^^Jln ordinance for the government 
of the Territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio,^^ was adopted by 
the unanimous vote, of eight States represented in Congress at that time. 

The committee who reported this celebrated ordinance consisted of Mr. Carring- 
ton, of Virginia, Mr. Dane, of Massachusetts, Mr. R. H. Lee, of Virginia, Mr. Kean, 
of South Carolina, and Mr. Smith, of New York, and as may be seen, was composed 
of three southern and two northern men. 

Mr. Carrington of Virginia (and not Mr. Jefferson, as has been sometimes er- 
roneously supposed,) was the chairman of the committee who reported the Ordi- 
nance of 1787, as it was passed, and now stands on the journals. But the first ap- 



16 

pearance of this exclusion of slavery from the Western territory, appears, as I have 
before stated, in the report of Messrs. Jefferson, Chase, and Hoxoell, made on the lal 
March, 1784, and is now on file amongst the manuscripts preserved amongst the ar- 
chives of the State Department. 

I have been informed by a gentleman of the highest respectability, and who has 
had the best means of ascertaining the fact, that the section in the original plan, re- 
ported by Mr. Jefferson, prohibiting slavery in the Western territory after ,1800, 
was §0 framed, for the purpose of enabling a few settlers at Vincennes, Kaskas- 
kias, and other places in that territory, who were the owners of slaves in 1784, to 
make their arrangements, and provide for the change which that plan contemplated. 
But as that section was stricken out, and the whole original plan repealed by the Or- 
dinance of 1787, slavery was prohibited by the terms of the 6th article, in the fol- 
lowing words: 

Article the Sixth. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, other- 
wise than in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: Provided, al- 
ways, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any 
one of the original Slates, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person claim- 
ing his or her labor or service as aforesaid. 

The 2d section of the Ordinance of 1787, has a provision in favor of the inhabi- 
tants of much importance; and, as I believe, envibled the owners of slaves on the 
13th July, 1787, the date of the ordinance, to retain them vmder the laws of Virginia, 
then in force ainong them, relative to the descent and conveyance of property. 
And by this provision a very small number of slaves were held after the date of the 
ordinance. Though it ha:? been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States, 
(5th Peteis, P. Menand vs. Aspasia, vol. 5, p. 504,) that a negro bor?i of slave 
parents after the date of that ordinance, in the Northwestern territory, was free, 
even if the person v/as sold and taken to Missouri. 

Thus much I have said to correct some erroneous impressions as to the origin of- 
the Ordinance of 1787, and of the authorship of that provision, which looked from the 
first, to the prohibition of slavery in the Western territory. 

I have voted to extend the provisions of this ordinance to the Territory of Oregon. 
I have voted against the miscalled " Compromise bill," And I shall in accordance 
with the resolution of the General Assembly of Ohio, at the last session, vote to in- 
sert similar provisions in any bill we may pass as to California and New Mexico. 
That re"feolution was presented by me in this House on the 3d day of May last, and 
is as follows; 

Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That the provisions of the ordinance of Con- 
gress of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, so far as fhe same relates to slavery, should be 
•extended to any territory that may be acquired from Mexico by treaty or otherwise. 

JOSEPH S. HAWKINS, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
CHARLES B. GODDARD, 
February 25, 18iS. Speaker of the Senate. 

And, whrlst I am willing and determined to stand by all the compromises of the 
Constitution, and all the lawful rights of our southern fellow citizens, I will never, 
by my vote, extend slavery to Oregon, or to the territory acquired from Mexico. 
.Mr. Chairman, there seems to be some misapprehension in this committee as to the 
feelings of the j^eople of Oliio on this subject. I believe, sir, that, in that State, we 
are aU (or free soil: and the effort of J\Ir. Van Bur en, and his party of Barnburners, 
to distract the Whig party in Ohio on this subject will utterly fail. Did not Van 
Buren and his locofoco friends aid to bring Texas iwio the Union, and thereby extend 
slavery ? Did they not aid to elect James K. Polk, and thereby promote and precip- 
itate us into the war with Mexico? How, then, can any honest Whig give them 
credit for sincerity in their present desire to form a third party, by calling it a Free 
Soil party? The Whigs of Ohio understand Van Buren too well to be decejved by 
any such professions. Neither do the abolition efforts of Garrison cS' Co., as report- 
•ed of their meeting lately held in New York, where they aver their design to dis- 



17 

solve this Union, and break down the American churches, meet with any sympathy or 
response from either the Whig or Democratic party in Ohio. They despise such 
attempts in any and every quarter. No, sir; the people of Ohio love the union of 
these States; and they will never forget the paternal counsel of Washington, when, 
in his Farewell Address, in allusion to this subject, he said to the people of this coun- 
try for all time: 

" It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national 
Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual attach- 
ment to it ; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety 
and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may 
'suggest even a suspicion, that it can in any event be abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon the 
first dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the 
sacred ties which now link together the various parts." 

Now, sir, I wish to say a few words as to the two candidates for the Presidency; 
and, as I have but a few moments to refer to the subject, I will say, that in addition 
to the many objections urged against Lewis Cass, the candidate of the Democratic 
party, the whole country understands that he is j)ledged to carry out the doctrines 
of James K. Polk; and this is a fatal objection to him in my estimation. 

And though our political opponents assert that ZACHARY TAYLOR, the Whig 
candidate for the Presidency, has no principles, they assert what they know, or 
ought to know, is not true; and I will now refer to some of ihe principles publicly 
avowed by him. In his letter to Capt. J. S. Allison of the 32d April, 1848, he says: 

J Baton Rouge, ^pril 22, 1848. 

"Dear sir: My opinions have recently been so often misconceived and misrepresented, that I deem 
it due to myself, if not to my friends, to make a brief exposition of them upon the topics to which you 
have called my attention. ^ 

I have consented to the use of my name as a candidate for the Presidency. I have frankly avow- 
ed my own distrust of my fitness for that high station ; but having, at the solicitation of many of my 
countrymen, taken my position as a candidate, I do not feel at liberty to surrender that position until 
my friends manifest a wish that I should retire from it. I will then most gladly do so. I have no pri- 
vate purposes to accomplish— .-no parly projects to build up — no enemies to punish — nothing to serve 
but my country. 

I have been very often addressed by letter, and my opinions have been asked upon almost every 
question that might occur to the writers as affecting the interests of their country or their party. I 
have not always responded to these inquiries, for various reasons. 

" I confess, whilst I have great cardinal principles which will regulate my political life, I am not 
sufficiently familiar with all the minute details of political legislation to give solemn pledges to exert 
my influence, if I were President, to carry out this or defeat that measure. I have no concealment. 
I hold no opinion which I would not readily proclaim to my assembled countrymen ; but crude im- 
pressions upon matters of policy, which may be right to-day and wrong to-morrow, are, perhaps, not 
the best test of fitness for office. One who cannot be trusted without pledges, cannot be confided in 
merely on account of them. 

" I will proceed, however, now to respopd to your inquiries. • 

" First. I reiterate what I have often said — I am a Whig, but not an ultra Whig. If elected, I would 
not be the mere President of a party. I would endeavor to act independent of party domination. I 
should feel bound to administer the"Gov.ernment untrammelled by party schemes. 

" Second. The veto power. The power given by the Constitution to the Executive to interpose his 
veto, is a high conservative power ; but, in my opinion, should never be exercised except in cases of 
clear violation of the Constitution, or manifest haste and want of consideration by Congress. Indeed, 
I have thought that, for many years past, the known opinions and wishes of the Executive have ex- 
•ercised undue and injurious influence upon the legislative department of the Government; and for this 
cause I have thought our system was in danger of undergoing a great change from its true theory. 
The personal opinions of the individual who may happen to occupy the Executive chair, ought not to 
control the action of Congress upon questions of domestic policy ; nor ought his objections to be in- 
lerposed where questions of constitutional power have been settled by the various departments of Gov- 
ernment, and acquiesced in by the people. 

" Third. Upon the subject of the tariff, the currency, the improvement of our great highways, rivers, 
lakes, and harbors, the will of the people, as expressed through their representatives in Congress, ought 
to be respected and carried out by the Executive. 

" Fourth. The IVIexican war. I sincerely rejoice at the prospect of peace. My life has been de- 
voted to arms; yet I look upon war at all times, and under all circumstances, as a national calamity, 
to be avoided if compatible with national honor. The principles of our Government, as well as its true 
polic]j, are opposed to the subjugation of other nations,- and the dismemberment of other countries by 
conquest. In the language of the great Washington, " Why should we quit our own, to stand on for- 
eign ground?" In the Mexican war, our national honor has been vindicated — amply vindicated ; and 



18 

in dictating terms of peace, we may well afford to be forbearing, and even magnanimous, to our fallen 
foe. 

"These are my opinions upon the subjects referred to by you ; and any reports or publications, writ- 
ten or verbal, from any source, differing in any essential particular from what is here written, are un- 
authorized and untrue. 

" I do not know that I sl^all again write upon the subject of national politics. I shall engage in no 
schemes, no combinations, no intrigues. If the American people haTe not confidence in me, they ought 
not to give me their suffrages. If they do not, you know me well enough to believe me when I de- 
clare I shall be content. I am too old a soldier to murmur against such high authority. 

" To Capt. J. S. Allisok." '• Z. TAYLOR." 

The principles herein avowed are Whig principles, and meet with a hearty re- 
sponse from the whole Whig party of the country. « 

Gen. Taylor has announced to the country that he is a Whig. He gives his opin- 
ions of the veto power. Upon the subjects of the tariff, the currency, the improve- 
ment of our great highways, rivers, lakes, and harbors, he says, the will of the peo- 
ple ought to be respected and carried out by the Executive. He says that the per- 
sonal opinions of the President ought not to control the action of Congress upon ques- 
tions o{ domestic policy. In his letter to Mr. Ingersoll he said: "At the last Presi- 
dential election, I was decidedly in favor of Mr. Clay'^s election, and would now 
prefer seeing him in that office to any individual in the Union." And, having been 
made the Whig candidate of the whole country, every Whig will unite cordially in 
his support. His admirable private and public character — having been by profes- 
sion a soldier, but "rejoicing in peace," and on every occasion, during the war with 
Mexico, exhibiting the greatest courage and skill, with the utmost humanity — has 
endeared him to all true Amejican hearts. 

The character of ZACHARY TAYLOR, not only as one of the greatest generals 
of the age, but as an honest man and true patriot, is known and appreciated by the 
people. And our opponents might as well strive to stop the mighty course of the 
Mississippi, as it rolls its great volume of waters from the Rocky Mountains and the 
AUeghanies to the Gulf of Mexico, as to prevent the powerful voice of the people 
from bearing him triumphantly to the White House on the 4th of March next. The 
opposition of factions have no terrors for me, for I believe Ohio will cast her vote 
for ZACHARY TAYLOR by a large majority; and I believe he Avill undoubtedly, 
be elected the next President by a vast majority of the people of the United States 



17 



APPENDIX. 



On the first of March, 1784, a committee, consisting of Mr. Jefferson, of Virginia, Mr. Chase, of 
Maryland, and Mr. Howell, of Rhode Island, submitted to Congress the following plan for the tem- 
porary government of the Western Territory : 

The committee appointed to prepare a plan for the temporary government of the Western Territory' 
have agreed to the following resolutions : 

Resolved, That the territory ceded or to be ceded by individual States to the United States, whenso- 
ever the same shall have been purchased of the Indian inhabitants and offered for sale by the United 
States, shall be formed into additional States, bounded in the following manner, as nearly as such ces- 
sions will admit ; that is to say, northwardly and southwardly by parallels of latitude, so that each 
State shall comprehend, from south to north, two degrees of latitude, beginning to count from the 
completion of thirty-one degrees north of the equator ; but any territory northwardly of the forty- 
seventh degree shall make part of the State next below. And eastwardly and westwardly they shall 
be bounded, those on the Mississippi by that river on one side and the meridian of the lowest point of 
the rapids of the Ohio on the other ; and those adjoining on the east, by the same meridian on their 
western side, and on their eastern by the meridian of the western cape of the mouth of the Great Ka- 
nawha. And the territory eastward of this last meridian, between the Ohio, Lake Erie, and Pennsyl- 
vania, shall be one State. 

That the settlers within the territory so to be purchased and offered for sale shall, either on their 
own petition or on the order of Congress, receive authority from them, with appointments of time 
and place, for their free males of full age to meet together for the purpose of establishing a temporary 
government to adopt the constitution and laws of any one of these States, so that such laws neverthe- 
less shall be subject to alteration by their ordinary legislature, and to erect, subject to a like alteration, 
counties or townships for the election of members for their legislature. 

That such temporary government shall only continue in force in any State until it shall have ac- 
quired twenty thousand free mhabitants, when, giving due proof thereof to Congress, they shall re- 
ceive from them authority, with appointments of time and place, to call a convention of representatives 
to establish a permanent constitution and government for themselves. 

Provided, That both the temporary and permanent governments be established on these principles as 
their basis : 

1. That they, shall forever remain a part of the United States of America. 

2. That in their persons, property, and territory, they shall be subject to the Government of the 
United States in Congress assembled, and to the Articles of Confederation in all those cases in which 
the original States shall be so subject. 

3. That they shall be subject to pay a part of the federal debts, contracted or to be contracted, to be 
apportioned on them by Congress according to the same common rule and measure by which appor- 
tionments thereof shall be made on the other States. 

4. Ihat their respective governments shall be in republican forms, and shall admit no person to be 
a citizen who holds any hereditary title. 

5. That after the year 1800 of the Christian era there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary ser- 
vitude in any of the said States, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have 
been duly convicted to have been personally guilty. 

That whenever any of the said States shall have, of free inhabitants, as fhany as shall then be in 
any one •f the least numerous of the thirteen original States, such State shall be admitted by its dele- 
. gates mto the Congress of the United States on an equal footmg with the said original States, after 
which the assent of two-thirds of the United States, in Congress assembled, shall be requisite in all 
those cases wherein, by the confederation, the assent of nine States is now required, provided the con- 
sent of nine States to such admission may be obtained according to the eleventh of the articles of con- 
federation. Until such admission by their delegates mto Congress, any of the said States, after the 
establishment of their temporary government, shall have authority to keep a sitting memfcer in Con- 
gress, with a right of debating, but not of voting. 

That the territory northward of the forty-fifth degree, that is t^say, of the completion of forty-five 
degrees from the equator, and extending to the Lake of the Woods, shall be called Sylvania; that of 
the territory under the forty-fifth and forty fourth degrees, that which lies westward of Lake Michigan, 
shall be called Jl/ic/ngmiia ; and that which is eastward thereof, within the peninsula formed by the 
lakes and waters of Michigan, Huron, St. Clair, and Erie, shall be called Cheronesus, and shall include 
any part of the peninsula which may extend above the forty-fifth degree. Of the territory under the 
forty-third and forty-second degrees, that to the westward, through which the Assenisipi or Rock 
river runs, shall be called i^sseJiisi/Mrt ; and that to the eastward, in which are the fountains of the 
Muskingum, the two Miamies of Ohio, the Wabash, the Illinois, the Miami of the Lake, and the 



18 

Sandusky rivers, shall be called Metropotamia. Of the territory which lies under the forty-first and 
fortieth de-rees, the western, through which the river Illinois runs, shall be called Illmota; that next 
adjoining, to the eastward, Saj-a«o-a ; and that between this last and Pennsylvania, and extending 
from the Ohio to Lake Erie, shall be called Washington. Of the territory which hes under the thirty- 
ninth and thirty-eighth de-rees, to which shall be added so much of the point of land within the fork 
of the Ohio and Mississippi as lies under the thirty-seventh degree, that to the westward, ^ylthln and 
adjacent to which are the confluences of the rivers Wabash, Shawanee, Tamsee Ohio, Illinois, Missis- 
sippi, and Missouri, shall be called Polypotamia; and that to the eastvjard, farther up the Ohio, other- 
wise called the Pelisipi, shall be called Pe^sipio. ■, „, Jl . J u 

That all the preceding articles shall be formed into a charter of compact, shall be du y executed by 
the President of the United States, in Congress assembled, under his hand and the sea.1 of the United 
States, shall be promulgated, and shall stand as fundamental conditions between the thirteen original 
States and those newly described, unalterable but by the joint consent of the United btates, m Oon- 
<-ress assembled, and of the particular State within which such alteration is proposed to be made. 



LIBRPRY OF CONGRESS 



011 464 387 7 



HOLLINGER 
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